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Types of Computer Expansion Slots
Written by Matthew Elton(copyright 2006 Matthew Elton)
Expansion slots are located on the motherboard, and openings on the back of thecomputer allow the ports on the cards that go in the slots to be accessed.The picture below shows the SoundBlaster Live sound card, with additional portsattached to it through an IDE cable. There are several types of expansion slots, includingAGP, PCIe (also known as PCIexpress), PCI, and ISA.The top card of the SoundBlaster Live sound card plugs into a PCI expansion slot, whilethe bottom card sends and receives its data to and from the larger card through an IDEcable. The smaller card simply needs an empty spot in the case to be mounted to. It doesnot need to be placed into an expansion slot on the motherboard. Types of Expansion Slots:
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ISA
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AGP
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PCI
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PCIe, which is short for PCIexpress ISA SlotsISA slots are an older type of expansion slot, twice as big as PCI slots and slower thanPCI slots as well. ISA slots are usually black, while PCI slots are usually white. ISAslots are not used much anymore, but most computers still have at least one of them.ISA networking cards, ISA sound cards, ISA video cards, and other types of ISAexpansion cards can be used in the ISA slots. PCI SlotsThe photo above is a picture of a PCI expansion slot, the most common expansion slot.PCI slots can handle 64 bits of data at a time, twice as fast as ISA slots, which can onlyhandle 32 bits of data at a time. PCI is an abbreviation for "Peripheral ComponentInterconnect." A 64-bit PCI slot has 64 connections to the motherboard, and eachconnection is capable of handling 1 bit of data at a time. A 32-bit ISA slot has 32connections to the motherboard, each handling one bit of data at a time. (Note: Older technology ISA slots are 8-bit and 16-bit. The newer EISA, (or Extended ISA), slots arecapable of 32-bit data transfer. Older PCI technology is 32-bit. The newer PCItechnology is 64-bit.) The diagram below shows how to properly insert a PCI card into an empty PCI expansionslot.
As technology changes, new expansion cards become available. These include videocards, which allow a monitor to be connected to the computer, sound cards, which allowspeakers and a microphone to be connected to the computer, and networking cards, whichallow computers to be linked together. There are also many other types of expansioncards. Below is a photograph of a Promise PCI expansion card. It allows you to connectup to four additional drives to your computer with IDE cables. This expansion card provides data transfer rates of up to 66,000,000 bits per second, (or 66Mbs/sec). Thistechnology is also known as Ultra ATA/66. ATA is an abbreviation for "AdvancedTechnology Attachment." Ultra ATA/66 is also known as Ultra DMA/66. DMA is anabbreviation for "Direct Memory Access." Ultra DMA/66 devices can directly access theRAM, transferring 66 million bits of data per second.Below is a picture of Creative Lab’s Sound Blaster Live Value PCI sound card. A soundcard is what processes sound and allows speakers and a microphone to be hooked up to
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